ARENA: Vote in the House for D.C.?
By: POLITICO Staff
February 25, 2009 04:42 AM EDT

David Marin, Republican strategist

“How can anyone argue with a straight face that the nation’s capital shouldn’t have a voting member of Congress? For more than two centuries, D.C. residents have fought in 10 wars and paid billions of dollars in federal taxes. They have sacrificed and shed blood to bring democratic freedoms to people in distant lands. Today, American men and women continue fighting for democracy in Baghdad, but here in the nation’s capital, residents lack the most basic democratic right of all.”

Andra Gillespie, Emory University

“As a former resident of the District, I have to respond with a resounding yes. D.C. residents absolutely need a vote in Congress. I recall my mother urging me to call my senator about an issue and having to remind her that I didn’t have a senator to call. By giving Del. [Eleanor Holmes] Norton a floor vote, Washingtonians will at least have some meaningful representation in the deliberative process.”

Mickey Edwards, Princeton University lecturer and former congressman

“At this point, there is no rational argument against allowing American citizens who live in Washington the right to be represented in Congress. The only ‘reason’ to deny representation is the fear that the District’s representative will not vote the way the opponents of representation would prefer, but if their appeal is so limited that one more negative vote in the House of Representatives would be fatal to their agenda, they have bigger things to worry about than whether or not D.C. gets a vote in the House.”

Larry Sabato, University of Virginia

“This isn’t a close call. Hundreds of thousands of Americans who pay their taxes, many of whom have served in the military and risked their lives for the rest of us, have no floor vote in the legislative branch of the federal government.”

Cesar Conda, Republican strategist

“Either give Washington, D.C., voting rights in the House or eliminate federal taxes for every D.C. resident.”

Jim Leach, Princeton University practitioner in residence and former congressman

“Statehood may require a constitutional amendment. But democracy and the underpinning notion of human dignity, which voting participation in the people’s House implies, demands congressional action. Justice and its pursuit is the story of America. It should not be denied to half a million Americans.”

Craig Shirley, Republican PR executive

“Sure. When it comes time to arraign all the elected officials, it will be more efficient and less costly to have all the crooks in one room. In fact, let’s make every investment banker and Wall Street employee a member of Congress.”

Adam Bonin, Netroots Nation

“I believe the better way of handling this is either via constitutional amendment accomplishing the goals of this act, though I’m also intrigued by the prospect of limiting federal jurisdiction to the federal buildings and the Mall, and retrocession of the bulk of the District to the state of Maryland. That the status quo is unjust and intolerable does not mean that this particular solution works.”